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3 out of 4 queens dead

I picked up 4 queens at the post office this morning. I checked them before leaving and they all seemed to be find. I went to the bees to make 4 nucs for them. I left the air conditioning on most of the time. I then drove to another farm to set the nucs up. It had been about 2 1/2 hours, 3 of the queens were dead. A pretty good day went to crap.

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

wow that sucks. I always put a sponge with a little water on it if Im going to hold em. 2.5 hrs, too bad you didnt get there 3 hrs later you could have refused em and got new ones. Maybe your supplier will look out for you. Good Luck. G

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

Back in July i had 10 russian queens shipped to me. All were just fine when the package was opened. Brought them home, put a drop of water on the cage for them to drink, and waited a few hours to put them in the hives. Went to put them in, found 4 dead, 1 acting strange, and the others were fine. Put the 6 alive bees in hives, waited 3 days, went to open candy end, found 2 more dead. Time of year is what i blame. As the same supplier sent me 10 queens in the spring done the same exact way, ALL just fine even today..

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

Maybe the queens suffered from the heat stroke and died. Is there such a thing as heat stroke on the queen bees?
Either way they died of unknown cause. I blamed it on the hot weather that suffocated them during transit.

Don't mix foreign bees into a virgin hive. She might get balled 100% of the time! When will you ever learn, huh?

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

Want to know why? You used two wrong words ..... POST OFFICE.

Not only a bad way to ship queens IMO............. its just plain stupid to use their service for queen shipment if not anything else bee related. If the heat and time does not kill them outright the conditions surely have a tendency to mess them up for the rest of their life.

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

Originally Posted by Honey-4-All

Want to know why? You used two wrong words ..... POST OFFICE.

Not only a bad way to ship queens IMO............. its just plain stupid to use their service for queen shipment if not anything else bee related. If the heat and time does not kill them outright the conditions surely have a tendency to mess them up for the rest of their life.

Try a shipper who uses UPS overnight air.....

Who just ate those queens? You or the shipper?

I'm not saying the post office is perfect, but we have a queen supplier with two locations one that is about 90 miles away and the other closer to 200. I have used each through the post office this year and the queens have been in great shape both times. And for $10 shipping, I get basically as many queens as I want overnight. Of course if they were shipping from Florida to Washington that's a completely different story.

One thing I will say is that they will still leave them in your mailbox which is probably a death sentence. I make sure either myself or my wife is home for the delivery.

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

Well, the hives are basically 92-94F inside, so 90 degrees is a pretty natural temperature. I have shipped queens using both USPS and UPS and they all transport during the night, with the rest of the time bees spending in a truck or in a warehouse. I would give these guys a break, they are not really all that bad. With the priority boxes colored white, it is hard to imagine they would overheat even if exposed to the elements, but with BEES written all over it, I would say the carriers tend to be more aware and careful with those parcels. Post office pickup is a great option if one wants to minimize the logistics time between the breeder and the ultimate destination.
I have tried to mimizize shipping time to 1 days, or 2 days max. Shipping just before PO closes, can slice off 8 hours. Also, per Mike Bush's suggestion I put in 6-8 attendants. These guys can create a lot of heat or cooling turbulence if they need too. So very sorry for you loss but so many things can affect survival in shipping, best thing is to minimize the "out of the hive" time.

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

Originally Posted by jwcarlson

I'm not saying the post office is perfect, but we have a queen supplier with two locations one that is about 90 miles away and the other closer to 200. I have used each through the post office this year and the queens have been in great shape both times. And for $10 shipping, I get basically as many queens as I want overnight. Of course if they were shipping from Florida to Washington that's a completely different story.

One thing I will say is that they will still leave them in your mailbox which is probably a death sentence. I make sure either myself or my wife is home for the delivery.

I have used the Post office as well. I live in a small town. They call me when they get them and keep them behind the couter until I get there. No problem with the few I have gotten. G

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

If you want to have USPS shipped queens kept at the post office (not hauled around by the route carrier and left in a hot mailbox) you can have your queen package addressed to you with "General Delivery" as the street address, and the package will be held at your post office for your pickup.

Per the USPS ...

General DeliveryGet your mail even if you’re on the road, new to town, or between permanent addresses. Mail addressed to you at General Delivery will be held at the area’s main Post Office™ for up to 30 days. All you have to do is pick it up.

General Delivery is a great choice if you don’t have a permanent address. People can send you mail by using the town name and ZIP Code™, like this...

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

I you want to to have USPS shipped queens kept at the post office (not hauled around by the route carrier and left in a hot mailbox) you can have your queen package addressed to you with "General Delivery" as the street address, and the package will be held at your post office for your pickup.

Fantastically excellent idea, Rader. I live in unincorpared area of a bigg-ish city. But I live very close to a smaller town. When I ordered queens, I was told that the big city PO would call me and not put them on the route truck. WRONG. They traveled around all day and of course, I wasn't home so had to go pick them in the evening once the route carrier returned for the day. The queens turned out fine, but I will remember your advice! The small town PO nearer to me would be much easier to have them sent by General Delivery. Thanks!

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

Originally Posted by AramF

Well, the hives are basically 92-94F inside, so 90 degrees is a pretty natural temperature.

Sure, but if its 90 outside, what temp is it inside the truck? If the package is exposed to sun, then inside temps soar quickly. I once made the mistake of placing a queen in a cage on the bed liner of my truck. It was about 85F that day. I came back in maybe 10 minutes and she was cooked. There are some mistakes you make only once.

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

Kelley's and several others won't ship queens if temps are in the 90s. The issue is dehydration brought on quicker by high temps. I raise my own queens, I wouldn't order queens if it's to hot or if the weather is to cold unless I could pick them up myself.

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

Jackie sent me a email this morning informing me that they were shipping my queens Tuesday. They had every right to refuse replacing the queens since they were find when I pick them up at the post office. I have been pleased with the NWC queens that I got from them last year, and this year. They use breeders from Sue Corbey. I'm very pleased to do business with Honey run apiaries.

Re: 3 out of 4 queens dead

I ordered Queens that came in July. One of 4 arrived dead...another of those was dead before the bees released her. Another disappeared from view within a couple of days and the final went on to lay but was quickly superseded. I think the Queens that left the breeder apiary were good but shipping did them no kindness.

Originally Posted by drlonzo

Back in July i had 10 russian queens shipped to me. All were just fine when the package was opened. Brought them home, put a drop of water on the cage for them to drink, and waited a few hours to put them in the hives. Went to put them in, found 4 dead, 1 acting strange, and the others were fine. Put the 6 alive bees in hives, waited 3 days, went to open candy end, found 2 more dead. Time of year is what i blame. As the same supplier sent me 10 queens in the spring done the same exact way, ALL just fine even today..